Here for You
by leah.sydnee
Summary: That night in the Little Hangleton graveyard, Priori Incantatem did far more for Harry than just help him escape. How will he react when he returns to the Wizarding World, only to have the two people he needs the most be at his side at last? *Takes place after Goblet of Fire
1. Chapter 1

It was broken. The beams that once supported the ceiling and the rooms above were cracked like limbs that were unable to heal themselves. Everything was shattered and collecting like dust on the floor. He stepped over a pile of ruble that had not been there the last time he walked across these floors.

"It's not here, is yours?" James bellowed to his wife, who was carefully trying to roam around the second floor, where she last remembered her own wand being.

"No, I don't…" her voice drifted into a silence.

"Lils? Lily?" James said, panic rising in his voice as he raced up the stairs.

He saw her there, at the crumbled opening at the end of the hall.

"H-he's gone, James. Harry is gone," she wept into James shoulder.

The room in front of them had taken the worst hit of the whole house. It had once been a bright yellow room, decorated with tiny owls and other magical plush beings that had amused their small toddler. The crib, which held him in his last moments, was broken, yet it showed no signs of blood. Both windows were shattered, and the ceilings, which had once stood whole, now had holes that opened up to the dark sky above. The night sky reminded James of the enchanted ceiling in the Great Hall at Hogwarts.

"Lily! We need to go to Hogwarts, talk to Dumbledore, figure everything out."

"Yes. Right. Ok." She said, still weeping at the sight. "Do you think…"

"I'm hoping, Lils."

* * *

Albus Dumbledore sat in his study late one Sunday evening in the summer after the end of the Triwizard Tournament. The tournament overall would have been considered a success had it not been for Cedric Diggory's untimely death at the end of the Third Task. What made it all worse in his mind was that the Wizardng World for the most part did not know the truth about why he had died—rather the British Ministry for Magic had played it off as a result of competing in the Tournament.

"How long are you going to let this go on, Albus?" Minerva McGonagall sighed as she entered his office, throwing yet another issue of the Daily Prophet onto his desk. "They are making you out to be some sort of baboon driven by power!"

He picked up the Prophet from where it had landed, flicking it out to get a full view of the photo on the front.

"Ah not their best photo yet, but amusing all the same," he said, skimming the page for the latest accusations against himself.

"You have to put an end to this, Albus." McGonagall demanded a little more harshly this time. "We can't let this go on. Fudge has to know the truth before it is too late. What if someone else dies because of his ignorance—we won't survive another war if we go on like this. You have to act, Albus!"

"I believe that Cornelius will believe what he wants to believe and nothing other than that, Minervra. In time he will come around I'm sure of it," he said, stepping around his desk and down to where his sweet bowl sat. "Will you be attending the meeting tonight?"

"Well yes, of course," she responded, a little flustered, "It's not time yet though is it?"

"No, not quite. I myself would quite like to enjoy the meal that the elves have concocted for this evening before I have to step into the chaos that this meeting will likely arouse."

"Oh dear, well yes then a little food might be a nice treat beforehand. Would you like to head down now?"

"In a few moments perhaps, but I feel as though I should remain here for a few moments more. Go on, I'll see you there," he said, waving his hand a little as he did so.

Minerva sighed, before she walked out the door.

* * *

The stone gargoyle stepped aside as McGonagall made her way back down the steps from Dumbledore's office. She had made the decision to return to her own office before attending dinner in the Great Hall but this intention was disrupted abruptly by the sound of unfamiliar voices flooding the halls.

"It's this way, Lils," a male voice echoed.

"No, it's this way," another one chimed, this one a little more feminine.

"Don't you think I would know, I was the one who got in the most trouble!"

"Yes, but I had to go to his office weekly as part of my prefect and Head duties, James."

"I'm still telling you it's this way."

The footsteps of the voices began nearing the headmaster's corridor. Minervra, pulled her out her wand out of instinct. The entrance to the corridor where the footsteps could be heard from was dimly lit, and the figures, which had just come into her line of sight, were not distinctive besides that they confirmed that it was a man and a woman who were approaching her. As they came closer, they slowed down upon recognizing McGonagall.

"Who-who are you?" she said loudly, her voice shaking slightly.

"Professor, is that you?"

"Y-yes…" she started but she stopped just as suddenly when she finally saw the identity of the man and woman. Standing in front of her, slightly taken aback, was a man, whose trademark messy black hair and glasses reminded her of a student who she knew was far away from these castle's halls. It was the women though who truly made McGonagall do a double take. She was beautiful with long, slightly curled auburn hair. Her eyes were unmistakably green and they complimented her complexion perfectly. "Lily? James?"

* * *

*_All recognizable J.K. Rowling Content is fully hers and I take no credit for it. Feel free to post a review if you have some time, and thank-you for reading! Hope to update very, very soon :) _


	2. Chapter 2

It felt like a distant memory, ascending the steps at the slowed, rocky pace, set by the stone gargoyle as it rotated, leading them towards the large oak wood door signaling the entrance to the headmaster's study. The Gryffindor head of house looked over her shoulder at the two of them, taking in their worried, anxious expressions and unchanged features as they waited for the stairs they had gone up thousands of times to stop.

The older witch, who admittedly was jumping with glee inside her mind at the prospect of what the return of the two people behind her could truly mean, turned, stopping them short of the door before instructing them in rather harsh tones to 'wait' while she informed the headmaster of their presence.

"This can't actually be happening," James grumbled, still in utter disbelief as he traced the edges of the stone in the wall with his free hand, his foot kicking the ground with each syllable he uttered.

"James," she sighed at first until her voice was shouting, hot tears leaving tracks down her rosy cheeks. "James! Potter!"

He turned at this; the first small smile finally present against his lips since they had woken up in the wreckage of what was once their cozy cottage home. "What is it, Potter?" he smirked at the name, pulling his wife close to him so he could kiss away the tears as he had done many times before.

She smiled ever so softly at their own personal joke, one that had annoyed many of their friends throughout the first year of their marriage to one another. "Harry," she said quietly, her head slowly tilting back until her bottle green eyes latched onto his hazel, "It doesn't feel…it doesn't feel like it should, or I would think it would feel…"

"Lily," he cried quietly himself, resting his head on top of hers the moment she wrapped her arms around his torso. "I don't think we're supposed to know how this is…how this is supposed to-"

"James!"

"What?" he asked, taking a step back until she was at arm's lengths from him, his eyes hungrily searching her face for anything he may have missed earlier.

She bit her lip. "I-I. Harry can't be dead, James."

He sighed, squeezing her hand tightly. "Lily…"

"No, James. I mean it… he can't. It just doesn't-"

"Professor Dumbledore will see you now," McGonagall informed them, having thrown open the study's door in the midst of their conversation, a sad smile lingering on her lips as she let them pass, having heard the young woman's reasoning, wishing dearly that she could indulge them with the information they had been so longing to hear.

"Lily and James Potter," the headmaster announced, walking around the edge of the desk. His long midnight blue robes trailed behind him, acting like water as they trickled down the stairs behind him as he made his way towards the couple. "I must say, I never expected to see you in here again," he admitted, reaching for James' outstretched hand before moving on to give Lily a warm hug. He gave her a smile that she had never once seen before in that brief moment before he stepped away, ushering them towards the two chairs across the desk from him.

"Professor-"

"What happened?" James blurted outright. His breath heavy and eyes wild. "The cottage is destroyed and there are robes on the floor. Dirty, tattered black robes that look eerily familiar but I- we-"

"Nothing happened last night, Mr. Potter," Dumbledore said solemnly. He looked past the unruly black hair and the soft auburn curls towards McGonagall who was still lingering in the door. "Minerva, if you wouldn't mind-"

The witch nodded once before departing from the room.

"Take a seat, please," he instructed. "This, as I am sure you will understand in a few moments is not something anyone ever expected to happen. Though many, one in particular, often dreamed…"

"Sir? I'm confused," Lily interrupted, taking a seat in the upright chair across from the headmaster, both her and James sharing equal looks of confusion on their faces at the man's words.

"It will make sense in a moment," he promised, easing their fears. "Miss. Evans, Mr. Potter, today is not the first of November. And the year is not 1981," he broke to them quickly. "Excuse me, for a minute will you?"

Their heads nodded without thinking, James' thumb suddenly stopping his slow, soothing movements over Lily's soft hand.

"Impossible," James said once and then again fifteen times over.

"Nothing's impossible," Lily muttered reasonably. She slid towards the edge of the chair, leaning forward only after checking the location of Dumbledore in the room. Her hands shuffled through the papers nearest the edge of his desk, searching for one that might hold a date. "No-"

"Is that the Prophet?" James asked, snatching it out of her extended hands.

"1995..." he said in disbelief, "But that would mean-"

"You were murdered by Lord Voldemort in your home in Godric's Hollow almost 13 years ago this October," Dumbledore spoke, startling them.

An embarrassed blush crept onto Lily's face as she gently placed the paper back in its place. "I didn't mean to ransack your desk," she apologized, sliding back in her seat. "Professor, Harry?"

The elderly wizard smiled gently at the young woman, taking his seat once more as he slid a vile towards the two of them respectively. "There are precautions that need to be taken during these times, I'm sure you understand," he explained, noticing as both the two people sat in front of him sniffed the potion, the green eyes to his left lighting up the moment she registered the scent. "How much did you read, Miss. Evans?" he questioned, patting the newspaper.

"Just the date," James responded skeptically.

"You still address me by that name," she noted, holding the vile once more.

"All will make sense in a moment. As we've noted it's been many, many years since we last met," he said a little sadly, "The Wizarding world is in quite, in quite the disarray. The Minister is disbelieving of the notion that Lord Voldemort has finally returned in full form and has been trying to persuade as many of his men as he can to believe the same. Unfortunately many of the Minister's plan to falsify the truth includes setting all the potential rioters and believers onto his side by discrediting anything and everything that I do. What you saw is just the latest in a long line of the Minister's work…"

"When you say back?" Lily questioned slowly, still trying to wrap her head around the place she believed the conversation to be headed.

The Headmaster nodded solemnly. "When you were murdered by Lord Voldemort in your home all those years ago, his body was destroyed. Many believed him to be dead, they still do, but this past June he returned with the help of one of his servants," he informed them rather regretfully, a look that did not go unnoticed by the couple.

"Sir…I'm sorry to interrupt but-"

"Harry," James breathed for her. "You haven't- we… What happened to Harry?" he stuttered, reaching for Lily's hand which he held tightly in his own.

The headmaster glanced between the two, studying the tears that flowed steadily down Lily Evans rosy freckled cheeks and James Potter's quivering lip as he took multiple deep breaths that seemed to do little to help calm his demeanor. His soft blue eyes crinkled a little at the corners as a smile washed over his face, a smile that was largely made visible by the way it tugged at his long silvery beard ever so much, and a smile that Lily and James had only seen on rare occasions during the First Wizarding War. "My deepest apologies," he sighed, sincerity pouring out of his voice as he took his seat once more as to be on their eye level.

"No," they seemed to cry out at the same time, Lily turning naturally into James' shoulder, her forehead resting near his neck as she tried to stop her cries, James trying his best to help them both as he processed and re-processed the inevitable news.

"I should have started all of this with Harry's involvement in your return," Dumbledore continued, raising his voice slightly so it could be heard over their subsiding whimpers.

"That's im-"

"How?" Lily turned, her reddened eyes boring into him. "He's- he's gone-"

"My dear," Dumbledore got up, passing her his own handkerchief. "Harry is very, very much alive," he smiled. "Harry survived the attack on Godric's Hallow thanks to some very ancient blood magic that you enacted the moment you refused to stand-aside and live in place of your son, Miss. Evans. By sacrificing your own life for his, when Voldemort turned on him after he had killed you, he couldn't touch him. The curse rebounded and took Voldemort out of his body and far away…until recently. Many believed he was gone. Harry is known as the Boy-Who-Lived," his eyes twinkled as he laughed a little at the old name.

James' had maybe only once before in his life felt such pride and love for his wife than he did in that very moment, the words of the Professor still lingering in his ears as he fought his own mind to replace 'the death of their only son' with news that he was alive because of her.

"Where is he now?" James asked, suddenly and very naturally elated as he jumped out of his chair, pulling Lily up with him. She crashed into him within seconds, gripping him tightly as if she would never be able to again. Tears staining their cheeks once more although for much happier purposes.

A patronus neither of them recognized came gallivanting through one of the nearby windows, pulling Dumbledore towards it as it spoke a message only he could hear.

"He's alive, James, Harry's alive…" she said over and over again into his shirt.

"He's alive," James reiterated, combing through her hair, his heart practically beating out of his chest. "When can we see him?" James asked, peaking over Lily's head towards the Headmaster, who was no longer standing where he had been before.

"You both can forget about those vials," the Headmaster spoke from behind them. "I have a much more difficult test awaiting you," he smiled almost cryptically.

"I'm not sure I like where this is going," James whispered in her ear, leading Lily towards the Headmaster.

"When can we see Harry?" Lily asked adamantly, stepping forwards. "I- We need to see Harry," she pleaded.

"There is somewhere we must go first," he informed them, ushering them towards the fireplace. He watched, waiting as they took a handful of the floo powder in their hands. "12 Grimmauld Place," he instructed.

Confusion set in on James' face, only disappearing just as the flames engulfed him, Lily having gone ahead. "Sirius," he breathed, just as he disappeared into the darkness.

* * *

"I'll need you to wait here," Dumbledore told the two of them, leading them through the upper rooms of Grimmauld Place, a floor away from the kitchens where the meeting was being conducted in his absence.

They both nodded their heads, watching his robes as they billowed out behind him as he disappeared down the steps. Lily squeezed James' hand just as he too slipped away, suddenly intrigued by the ajar door to the side of the hall. She followed him, hands rubbing her shoulders as she felt the odd chill come through the house at the sight of the lingering cobwebs and the still screeching shrill of a woman down the hall.

"What is it?" she asked, her voice quiet as she scanned the peculiar walls of the room James had found himself in. She watched her husband move about, crouching down at points to scan the fading names accompanying the small portraits on the Slytherin Green walls.

"I didn't think it was true when he originally mentioned it," James breathed as his fingers trailed over the burned fabric of the wallpaper, the frayed bits that were still charred from the charm. "I thought it was a metaphor: 'mum blasted me off of the family tree'…"

Lily laughed a little. "Yes, because generally speaking when people become distant or disowned their parents burn them off of a family tree in a room dedicated to the entire history of their family," she retorted, spinning about the room as she took in its oddness.

James smirked, standing up once more. He grabbed her waist from behind, pulling her towards him in one quick motion before locking her in a headlock. "Think you're funny Potter?"

"Always," she laughed, squirming as she tried to get away. "Much funnier than you, might I add," she teased when she was finally free.

"Why, aren't you cheeky?" he said, tickling her mercilessly.

"You're just peeved that you lost all your humor in the grave," she shot back, elbowing him and finally succeeding in getting loose. "Too soon?" she asked, placing a delicate hand on his shoulder when she took notice of his torn expression.

His hand reached up for hers, pulling her in closely, and their foreheads meeting one another's, though she had to stand on her tiptoes for that to happen. "Gotcha," he exclaimed when she was in his restraint once more.

"You're a complete tosser, James Potter," she growled.

"Hm-hem."

Professor McGonagall stood in the doorframe, her eyes narrowing in on the young couple though the slight wavering of her tightly sealed lips gave away her amused expression.

"Sorry, Professor," Lily said almost immediately, jumping apart from James just as a schoolgirl would if she was caught snogging in the corridor. Her jumpy movements sent James into hysterical laughter as he followed her out the door, the Professor standing aside to let them pass.

"Down the stairs and to your left," she instructed, once again taking the lead. "Albus has just begun to inform them, though I don't suspect it will take-"

"They could be Death Eaters for all we know, Albus!"

"Was that-?"

"Moody," James and McGonagall both confirmed unanimously.

"I'd recognize his voice anywhere," James said, almost fondly. "Downright terrified me every time I was in a room with the man," he added, shivering a little at the thought of having to do so in mere moments.

* * *

"It's about bloody time you showed up, Albus," Alastor Moody growled, slamming his fist down on one of the many editions of the latest issues of the Prophet scattered around each of the Order members present.

"I still say he's far too young-"

"He deserves to know!" Sirius shouted, his chair skidding across the floor as he engaged in yet another stare down with Molly Weasley's, whose chest was huffing and puffing as her eyes narrowed at the man.

"He is just a boy, Albus!" Molly exclaimed. "Telling him is going to make it just that much harder for him. He's just a boy!"

"He is a boy who has the entire fate of the Wizarding World resting on his shoulders whether we want it to or not and he has the right to know why! James and Lily would've told him!"

"But they're not here now to decide, are they?" Moody shot back.

"Professor-"

"Silence!" Dumbledore shouted at the top of his lungs, bringing the room to complete silence, all of the room's occupants freezing in their spots. "That is enough on this debate, for now," he said in a voice that commanded the Order members respect. "Has the team left?" he asked Alastor calmly.

Moody grunted indicating that they had indeed come and gone from Headquarters.

Albus nodded. "Good. And they should return shortly I presume?" he asked, moving until he was standing in the direct middle of the table.

"Remus believed that they would be back in no more than a couple of hours at most, Dumbledore," Arthur Weasley informed the Professor. "Sir?" he spoke up again when he noticed the older man pause in thought in the middle of his sentence.

"Something quite extraordinary has happened tonight."

"Professor, I wouldn't-"

"I am not talking about the current mission that is underway, Mr. Fletcher," Albus interrupted the man almost tiredly. "When I was preparing to head down for a spot of supper this evening, Professor McGonagall here brought forward to me two people who I, for many years now, would not have expected to find myself wandering the hallways of Hogwarts…"

"Death Eaters?" Sirius asked curiously.

Albus shook his head. "Now before I bring them forward to you all for a test that I believe to be much, much tougher than any veritiserum that I could supply-"

"So you do think it's a couple of his followers then?"

"Surely you could tell yourself, Albus, being the legilimens that you are-"

"Who is he trying to make us believe these people are-"

"Lily and James Potter," Dumbledore said plainly, but with the outraged voices of the Order members reaching new heights with each new possibility popping into each of their heads blurting out, only Sirius was able to hear the very words the Headmaster muttered.

"You've got to be bloody joking me!" he exclaimed so loudly the room felt as though it shook. "You've brought the bastards here, have you?" he asked, settling into a rampage, pushing the unnecessary chairs out of his way as he stormed towards the nearest exit.

"Mr. Black," McGonagall called his name sternly.

"You do realize that within a matter of moments Harry Potter will be walking through that door up there and you will have brought the very people who want him dead into Headquarters. Headquarters!"

"Surely you do not believe that he would do something so foolish, Mr. Black. Last I checked you were the one more prone to rash decision making," McGonagall scolded.

"I-"

"Enough," Dumbledore ordered.

"I'm sure you have an explanation then here, Albus," Moody sighed, trying not to let his anger at the man seep through his rough, tired voice.

Dumbledore smiled slightly. "Considering Lily and James Potter were a part of the Order, and dear friends to many of us in this room I thought it best to test their identities with all of you. I will worry about Harry when the rest of our members return with him in tow. Molly, I will allow you to fret over him as you see fit," he added, giving the woman a soft smile, which gave her much comfort as she sat back down in her chair.

"I don't like this," Sirius huffed, his wand tightly gripped in his hand as he stood leaning against the far wall. "This better be dealt with before my godson gets here, Dumbledore."

Dumbledore acknowledged the man's remarks with a single glance before turning and dismissing McGonagall for the time being, diving into a rather heated discussion with Moody not moments after the Professor left the room, undoubtedly in search of the two imposters that were lurking about his childhood home.

"Mr. Black," he said, ushering the man towards the far end of the kitchen and up a few flights of stairs.

"Albus, they're back," McGonagall informed him, walking briskly into the hall with Remus trailing just behind.

The tall sandy-haired man looked over the witch's head towards his best mate, his eyes searching hungrily for the information McGonagall had so conveniently left out when she dragged him away from the others.

"Harry, dear!" Sirius could hear Molly Weasley exclaim excitedly a couple rooms away, the knowledge that his godson was here and he was occupied with others angering Sirius even further than before.

"Harry's-" Remus turned to Dumbledore after giving Sirius a comforting glance concerning the well being of the boy.

Dumbledore held up a hand, stopping the man and his thoughts.

"Mr. Lupin, I understand that Professor McGonagall has not explained much to you concerning why you are here, and Mr. Black I ask that you not interrupt," he demanded of the darker-haired man. "Earlier this evening Minevra brought forward two individuals whom she found wandering about the school's halls. I was called to the meeting when I was just about to question them, but decided that the two of you would be much better judges than I."

"Sir?" Remus questioned.

"Just in here," the Headmaster ordered, stepping aside to open the door into the room where James and Lily stood waiting.

* * *

AN: so i'm sorry. I had kind of forgotten about this fic when I got carried away with my two others! i'm sorry.


End file.
